denial

In Tolstoy’s “The Three Deaths,” an old peasant driver is breathing his last breath in the kitchen of an inn. Next door, in a bedroom, the wife of a rich businessman is also dying. Whereas death is kept a secret from the rich woman for fear of frightening her, the old coachman understands fully what is happening. Nobody tries to deceive him. When a fellow worker asks him how he feels, he answers, “Death is